Charging and usage tips for LifeP04 batteries (Production stealth batteries)
For all of you who have just got or are about to get your new stealth bike, here is a bit of info on how to look after your batteries.
1.Avoid charging directly after use, If possible wait a few hours or until the next day. This will allow the battery to cool and the chemistry to stabilise.
2. When charging, allow the cells to balance. Unless you are in a hurry, do not unplug the charger as soon as the green charged LED illuminates. The battery cells will continue to charge and balance the cells when the green LED is on. (allow several hours or overnight for cell balancing)
3.For the first 3 usage cycles of a new battery, do not excessively load the battery. It is a good idea to limit the current in the CA to about 50% to avoid accidental high loads during this period. The battery will improve with around 20 cycles of use.
4.Discharging to 80% of capacity will prolong battery life. (E.g. Bomber18ah battery/stop use at around 14.5ah)
Occasional discharge until the BMS shuts down is ok, It also shows your range in usable battery capacity.
5. Usage tip – If you are riding off road on a bumpy twisty tight section, limit the current in the CA to around 70% (Bomber I set 40A). You will use less battery energy, the motor will remain much cooler, and you can ride longer. What I found is that it is difficult to control the throttle smoothly in that situation, so the current serges over the bumps. If I ride a 3km loop, with no current limit the motor gets quite hot. If I limit the current, I can ride 3 – 4 loops to get the motor to the same temperature. I don’t make it around the loop any faster with full current.
Some technical info.
BMS – Battery Management System (fitted in your battery pack)
What it does.
Prevents any one cell voltage from falling to low. WHY - If the cell voltage becomes too low the cell can become permanently damaged and will no longer accept a charge.
HOW – When any cell in the pack reaches the low voltage point, it will shut down the whole pack – Your bike will cut out.
Prevents over charging of individual cells. WHY – the cells have an upper voltage level that they must not exceed. The BMS will protect the cells from exceeding this level when charging.
Balancing – The BMS will prevent an individual cell from over charging by limiting the voltage. When the voltage is reached by a cell, the charging current is passed on to any other cells in the pack that are below the upper voltage level. Balancing occurs only towards the end of charging the pack. The charging current at this point is relatively low, so that is why it takes time (several hours) to balance the cells
Charger
The supplied charger is a two stage charger. Firstly it charges a fixed current until the pack reaches a prescribed voltage (dependant on the battery voltage) Then stage 2 it charges to a target voltage at a reduced nominal current level.
So in the bomber’s case it charges at 6A in stage 1 then when it reaches around 84 volts it switches to stage 2 the current drops to around 0.2A getting progressively less until the pack reaches 87.6v
The slow charge at the end allows the pack to balance. If 1 cell is low it will take some time to charge (the 18Ah) at 0.1 – 0.2A in order for it to catch up to the other cells.
Cruzxia
